On May 10, we lose Stuyvesant Photo

It was a halftime trivia break at Brown’s, and I took a few moments and sent a text to my Street Academy trivia team buddies Jeremy and Alexis, who are now getting suntanned in Florida (they flew Continental, and as far as they told me there wasn’t a single problem with their flight). I then checked my Facebook account through my phone’s web browser. It was at that point that I got the news.

And I wasn’t happy with the news.

After 22 years of operation, Stuyvesant Photo is closing their doors forever. The final day of operation is May 10.

Stuyvesant Photo opened in 1989, and sold cameras and darkroom supplies to its loyal customers. Even today, Stuyvesant Photo provides a cornucopia of digital and film products, camera equipment and accessories – essentially, everything from top-of-the-line Canons to lo-fi Holgas. They offered photography classes and tips; and the staff always treated their customers with courtesy, respect and support.

It was Stuyvesant Photo’s Meghan Murphy who suggested last year that I enter my polar panoramas in the Schenectady Art Night. And it was Kim, the owner of Stuy Photo, who suggested I shoot comparison shots of my 50-year-old Kodak Super-XX film with photos using modern film. And don’t get me started on how many times I would buy something at Stuy Photo and then get into a discussion with “Polaroid Pete” Harris on vintage camera equipment and his latest Polaroid restoration or modding project.

With the store’s last weeks of operation on the horizon, there will of course be several sales and bargains available. Sadly, the fact that there is a “going out of business sale” at all means that our area loses yet another local independent business.

Kim and company will be sorely missed. Their personnel have all been wonderfully hospitable as well as being extremely knowledgeable – “Polariod Pete” – who might be able to cobble together a camera from bubble gum and glass, “Ma Meghan” – a wonderful visual teacher, and Dave, just Dave, who is a very talented student of design. We’ll all miss you.